The Man, The Boy, and the Voice
by xxxsheeranxxx
Summary: Sakura's life revolves around these three: The man she was trying to kill, the boy she loves, and the mysterious voice of a fallen angel.
1. Chapter 1

I can't believe it! It's my first chapter. XD

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto.

Sakura sat under the shadow of a cherry blossom tree, protecting her from the mid-afternoon sun. The day was pleasant, and the wind was gently blowing her pink locks away from her face. Good thing Tsunade let her off early today, so she could finally have her break from the hospital work.

She removed her gloves and let a green glow emanate from her hands. As she stared at the glowing chakra, she remembered the last time she exhausted all of her strength, causing her near death. Although a year had passed since that dreadful day, she would never forget the feeling of helplessness as she lie among the rubbles...

She remembered the pain that shot through her whole body. She closed her eyes tightly.

_Oh God,_she gasped, _I can't die right now...not yet!_ Pictures of her family and friends flashed through her mind.

_This coul not be my end yet,_she told herself, _I need to find Sasuke first! I will bring him back...I made a promise to Naruto!_

She opened her eyes but tears clouded her vision. Through the blood and dirt, she saw Lady Chiyo running towards her.

" SAKURA!"

She tried to steady herself with her arms, but she failed. She struggled until she was able to get up. She looked up. Horror flooded her when she saw the man behind the elder, his sword raised, preparing to strike the old woman from behind.

But Sakura acted fast. Another round of pain enveloped her whole body as she received the blow from the enemy's sword.

The weapon went through her stomach.

Sakura could not see the face of her attacker because of the mask he was wearing. He was enormous, and the deadly metal tail in his back was swishing to and fro, making him look like a scorpion.. _Suits his name well,_Sakura thought.

The odd man towered over her.

"It's over, girl."He spoke in a dangerous tone.

His words echoed through her heart.

_Akasuna no Sasori._

Scorpion of the Red Sand.

She coughed out more blood. She could not hardly believe that this man was actually Lady Chiyo's grandson. _He was all too evil._

She remembered the look of pure shock in the old lady's face when they first encountered Sasori and his partner earlier before the battle.

_"That's not his true form."Chiyo blurted out."The real Sasori was inside that hideous body."_

_But,the hell,until now,I had not been able to put a crack on that puppet armor!_Sakura thought. She wanted to salp herself if it wasn't for the numbness that was creeping up her body.

She found herself falling into Lady Chiyo's arms.

"Sakura, hold on! I'm going to heal you... Just be strong Sakura!" Lady Chiyo repeated over and over while she was healing Sakura's wounds.

"Such a waste of time." She heard him say. " Her wounds may be healed, but my poison would not allow her to live no longer than three days."

"That's what you think." Sakura managed to spat out.

She was not able to see it, but her enemy was amused by her answer.

" You're brave, little girl.."

She was suddenly enraged. "I'm not a little girl! I'm going to kill you and I'll make you tell me everything you know about Orochimaru! Do you hear me?!" She was out of breath from shouting at him.

Sasori let out an evil laugh.

"Try to hunt and kill me then. If you'll ever had the chance to live…"

She tried to answer back, but she was slowly losing consciousness..

Then all of a sudden, her mind went blank.

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"Hey, Forehead!"

Sakura recognized Ino' s voice. The blonde girl waved a hand in front of Sakura's face.

"Oh, Ino,it's you. What are you doing here?"

"I should be the one asking." Ino huffed. "You've been so preoccupied with your thoughts you didn't notice I was standing here in front of you for about five minutes."

Sakura didn't say anything. Ino sat beside her.

Ino pushed on. "What's bothering you, girl?" She paused. A look of worry for her bestfriend was on her face. "Are you… are you still thinking about… Sasuke?"

"Huh? No. Not really."

"Then _who _were you thinking of?" Ino asked innocently. Sakura glared at her nosy bestfriend.

"I'm not thinking of anyone in particular. No one, in fact. I'm just pondering about random thoughts in my head."

"Really?" Ino grinned at Sakura. Then she punched Sakura lightly on the shoulder. "You should get a boyfriend soon," she teased,"so that I would know who were you thinking of."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I certainly don't need a boy in my life right now…"

"How about next month? Come on, Sakura, despite your humongous forehead…"

"Wow, thanks for the compliment, Pig…"

"Let me finish, old hag. Now, where am I? I was just about to say that you are still gorgeous, even though you have a…"

"Humongous forehead. Say, Ino, is it really that big?" Sakura then measured her forehead with her hands.

Ino giggled and smile to herself. Of course she was just exaggerating about the size of Sakura's forehead. It was just a scheme to divert Sakura's thoughts from whatever that was bothering her. In fact, Ino had noticed her bestfriend was growing prettier each passing day. She wore her hair long again, her curves were just perfect, and her most striking features—for Ino and maybe most people—would be her eyes. They were bright emerald green and they seemed to be lit with an undying fire of determination. Those eyes matched her silky skin and pink hair perfectly.

_Poor girl, _Ino thought, _she doesn't know how beautiful she is. And Sasuke was a fool for dumping her. _She just shook her head.

"No? It's not big Ino?"

Ino laughed."Don't worry girl, even with that forehead, Gaara was still checking you out." She finished with a sheepish smile.

Sakura's mouth hung open. "You Pig! Try to mention it ever again or I'll tell Sai you had a crush on him!"

"Hey Pinky, don't you ever dare do that or I'll frame you up with Kankuro instead!" Ino tried to catch Sakura, who already had run away.

Their voices and laughter fade away slowly as another breeze swept over the trees, making the leaves rustle with some unknown music…

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AUTHOR's Note: Ta-da! End of first chapter. Next chapter will be finished tomorrow. And by the way, Merry Christmas to all! Reviews are very much appreciated. Just drop in to say hi:


	2. Chapter 2

Hello guys! I know I promised to update yesterday… But… that "time of the month" came to ruin my day! *ouch* Yesterday I was just locked up in my room, growling in my bed like a sick pig. : But, yes, here's the next one.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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"Come on Forehead, I'm starving."

"Again? Come on Ino, we just ate at Hinata's house an hour ago remember? I won't be surprised if one day you'll be as fat as Chouji."

"Ah, whatever. I want a bowl of ramen."

"You sound like Naruto." Sakura told her bugging friend. "I know. You just want to pass by Ichiraku's to see if Sai was there…"

"Now, now, Sakura, stop being a bi-"

"Sakura-san!"

The two girls heard a shout from behind them. They stopped on their tracks as a young woman in a white uniform came running towards them.

"Sakura-san."The nurse paused to catch her breath. "Tsunade-sama told me to find you. There's been an accident this afternoon by the river."

"What accident?" Sakura asked.

"A boy was found by Konoha guards, unconscious and wounded. We already healed some of his wounds, but he was only getting worse. Tsunade-sama presumed that he was poisoned. "The nurse explained.

_Poisoned…_

"Sasori." Sakura spoke barely in a whisper.

Flashback of their battle scenes were running through her head again. The woman in front of her interrupted her thoughts.

"Tsunade-sama said that we are running out of time. We need an antidote, and that boy could possibly die any minute now if we don't hurry." The nurse finished.

"Let's go now." Sakura announced.

"Can I go with you?" Ino asked.

"Sure, but first I need you to pick some of these herbs for the antidote…"

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"Where is he?"

"Room 217. Tsunade-sama left him with some medical ninjas. But they could not quite get the formula for the antidote, let alone identify the components of the poison."

Sakura hurried towards the door of Room 217. When she entered the room, she found two men arguing and fussing over.

One man raised both hands and exclaimed, "How in the world did he made such a complicated poison? I've been analyzing it for hours, yet I had not identified even a single ingredient."

The other one just buried his head on his hands. They looked tired and frustrated. "We can't save him." He looked up dejectedly and notices Sakura standing by the doorway.

A glimmer of hope lit up the faces of the two men.

"Ah, Sakura-san, here you are! We're glad you finally came. Up until now, my partner and I were not able to…"

Sakura cut him shortly and smiled. "Hai, Ryuu-san, I understand. I'll take care of everything now. You and Seichi-san can take a rest. I can see you've been working for hours and you're tired. Ino and I will take care of the patient."

"Can we do anything to help you?" they asked.

"Yes, just report to Tsunade-sama that everything will be fine now."

"Arigatou, Sakura-san, just tell us if you ever need anything."

Then the two men left.

Sakura proceeded to take over the job of analyzing the poison. She did several tests and confirmed her suspicion.

This was certainly Sasori's work.

She sighed. Good thing she considered to tell Ino to pick up the herbs she had used a year ago to make the antidote.

Ino would come any moment now with the ingredients. For the meantime, Sakura decided to check the vitals of the patient. She edged nearer to the bed to take a closer look on the boy's face.

His face was pale due to a lot of blood loss, and black lines were under his closed eyes. But those things were not able to hide his soft features. Red hair framed his angelic face. He could be no more than sixteen or seventeen years old, Sakura decided.

_It seems like he had fallen straight from heaven…_

"He's kinda cute, you know."

Sakura looked up. She was totally absorbed by her thoughts that she didn't notice Ino enter the room. She heaved a sigh.

"We need to act quickly." She checked his pulse. "By the looks of it, I assume that he was poisoned two or three days ago. He was showing the same symptoms as Kankuro's." She quickly proceeded to make the antidote. "Time's running out."

Sakura finished the antidote in no time. She turned to Ino.

"This would be painful so hold him firmly if he resist. I'm going to inject this into his system."

But the patient did not even made the slightest move.

"Whew." Both girls let out a sigh of relief when they had finished healing him.

"Look at him, Sakura." Ino said. "He looks so calm and peaceful even when we were injecting the antidote. He didn't even give a squeak." She slumped her head on a table then turned to Sakura who was now back on checking the patient again."Will he live?" She asked.

"Of course. His vitals are back to normal now, but I guess he would not be conscious for two days or so." She noticed the large gash on his back. "He needs further medication." She commented. She had a lot of questions on her mind. How this boy did have his wounds? How did he get here? _Why is he here…_

Just then the door burst open and Tsunade came in.

"Tsunade-sama."

"Sakura. How's the patient?"

"We already cured him. But he was still unconscious."Sakura momentarily closed her eyes."Tsunade-sama, where is he from?"

"Konoha guards found him by the river. Except for a bag full of scrolls we could not open, nothing has been found that can trace where he came from." Tsunade said."If he was a spy, a lost traveler, or someone else, we do not know. We must wait until he wakes up."

Sakura nodded."We should keep an eye on him, if ever he would try to do anything suspicious when he recovers completely."

"You're right, Sakura."Tsunade agreed."We need a person to keep watch on him. And that would be your task." She smiled at Sakura.

Sakura was surprised."W-why me?"

Tsunade put a reassuring hand on her shoulder."You're my student Sakura. I know your capabilities and I know that you would be the best person for this task. Extracting every bit of truth in him depends upon your interaction with him." She slapped Sakura's back. "Trust me, it would be fun."

_Fun? Seriously? _Sakura could sense that her master was up to something.

Tsunade was not finished yet. "If you were to ask me where this kid came from, I would answer you honestly…"she paused to gaze at the boy lying on the hospital bed, "that he's straight from heaven."

_Straight from heaven…_

Sakura fixed her eyes on the face of the unknown boy.

"If I were to have a son, I want him to look exactly like this boy."Tsunade chuckled lightly. She stepped closer to the bed. Sakura followed her. Tsunade ruffled the boy's hair gently."Sleep tight, little angel."She turned to face Sakura."He's all yours now. Take good care of him." She gave Sakura one last smile before turning to leave.

"Don't you think Tsunade hadn't had her daily dose of sake?"Ino mused. "She just walked in, talked about having a son, and called him an angel…"Ino stopped to think. "But, Sakura, don't you agree with her?"

"Huh? About what?..."

"That this boy does look like an angel. Don't you think so?"

_Angel? Of course he is._

Sakura could hear something…or someone…someone's voice echoing those words in her head.

"Sakura? You're spacing out again."

"Oh. Sorry, Ino. Guess I'm just tired out." Sakura closed her eyes. She could hear the voice again.

She felt herself falling, falling into a dark world below her…

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Oh yeah! Finally. After doing some hiding thingy, I finally finished this one. As you noticed, the first chapter was about the Man. This chapter is about the Boy. Guess who's up next… Well yeah, so here it is. And thanks for reading my story3


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: -_- I have nothing to say here. Just go on with the story XD

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

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Sakura was terrified. She was falling into something that was never ending.

She could hear voices now… Different voices.

_You're annoying…_

…_weak…_

_You would never be as strong as Naruto and Sasuke…_

_Team 7 is better off without you!_

_You'll never be able to bring Sasuke back!_

She heard more voices as she fell further into the pit of darkness. She will go insane if she hears another…

_It's over…girl._

_Try to hunt and kill me then…if you'll ever have the chance to live…_

She was definitely insane now. But then, she heard her own voice…

'_I'm going to kill you! I'll never stop until I haven't killed you!_'

Sakura screamed. "Stop! Please stop." But the voices just grew louder.

Her eyes were on tears now. And still, she could not stop herself from falling.

_Somebody…please…save me…_She whispered desperately.

Right on cue, as though as an answer to her plea, she stopped from falling.

Someone caught her, and she could feel that they were climbing… no, _flying…_up to the light.

She closed her eyes, and she planned never to pen them until…

They finally reached solid ground again. Her savior put her down gently on the ground.

"Everything will be fine now." Sakura heard him say. By that time, she confirmed her savior was a male.

His voice was like moon on still waters. It made Sakura feel calm and peaceful. But she refused to open her eyes.

"D-did we fly up here?" She asked with eyes still closed.

A long silence ensued. But he finally answered back.

"Yes."

"H-how?" She stuttered. "You have wings? Are you…are you an angel?" That's the first thing that entered her mind.

She heard him laughing softly, which reminded Sakura of a child. It was music to her ears.

"Which one will I answer first?" he asked innocently.

"Any of it." Sakura replied, _as long as I can hear your voice._ What was she thinking? She mentally slapped herself.

"But you need to choose which one will I answer first. Or," he said playfully, "do you want me to answer them all at once?"

Sakura stiffened a bit. She didn't know now if she wanted to know his answer. She still kept her eyes shut.

"A-are you… an angel?"She repeated the question from earlier.

She could sense that he was getting closer to her.

"Do you… believe in them?"He whispered in her ear. Sakura realized that he was _this _close to her. She became uneasy.

"I-I don't know, I'm not sure." She managed to say. "J-just answer me."

Another silence followed.

"Yes. I am." He replied. "Don't you want to open your eyes?" His voice suddenly turned icily cold.

Sakura shivered, not only because of his words, but also because of the cold fingers that were tracing her face. She felt something sticky. She gulped.

"Open your eyes now." His voice was soothing.

Sakura gave in. She slowly opened her eyes.

A black hooded figure was in front of her. HE had wings, but they were also black.

_Black as the pit I have fallen into…_

"I-I thought angels wore white."

"That's because… I'm of a different kind."

Sakura's hands flew to her face. Then she gasped when she saw blood.

Her eyes traveled from her hands to the hands of the person… or creature… who had saved her.

_Bloody hands…_

"You said you're an angel." She said in disbelief.

"I'm not lying." He said, his voice still soft. "I'm an angel…"

Sakura took a step back.

"…a fallen angel."

Sakura could feel herself falling into the darkness all over again.

The voices came into life…

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Sakura felt someone's hand on her cheek. She grabbed the hand and opened her eyes to check if it was covered with blood.

It was not.

She breathed a sigh of relief. _True help at last! _She closed her eyes again and could not help but hug whoever it was who came to save her from this nightmare.

"Help me please! Someone… someone…he said he was an angel but…truly…he…" She scrambled for words. She was about to cry any moment now, so she just hugged the person more tightly. She likes the softness and warmth coming from the body of whoever it was she was hugging.

_I'm…hugging someone?!_

Realization of what she was currently doing dawned into Sakura. She finally opened her eyes.

Light from the early morning sun shone through the hospital windows. Her eyes scanned the room. Medical equipments. Four rows of bed.

No one was inside the room. In fact even her patient was not on his bed.

Of course he was not on his bed. He was on another one. With her. Hugging him.

Sakura quickly loosened her hold on him. Her face burned a s she looked up right into the eyes of the boy. Her emerald orbs met his hazel-brown ones.

_Oh Kami… He was so beautiful…_

"I-I'm really sorry… I didn't know it was you." She began to explain. She got up and brushed some stray strands of her hair from her face. _I didn't know I slept in here. _Sakura grumbled to herself. _That Ino pig. She didn't even bother to wake me up._

She was totally embarrassed on how she acted. To distract herself, she proceeded to perform a checkup on him.

"How are you feeling?" She placed a hand on his temple to check his temperature.

Sakura didn't hear a response. _Is he mad at me?_

She just shrugged it off and continued talking."I was amazed on how fast your recovery rate is. You are supposed to be unconscious for a day or two, but it seems like your poisoned wounds were completely healed," she then inspected the wound on his back, "except for this one." She finished.

Still, there was no response. _Am I talking to a stone?_

She was getting more and more irritated every passing minute of awkward silence.

She spoke again. "Ummm…by the way, I'm Haruno Sakura. I'm a medic, and I'm in charge of taking care of you. You are?"

Silence answered her. She could not stand it any longer. She put both hands on her hips. "Look here, if you're still upset with me because of what had happened earlier…"

The boy looked up to her then shook his head.

"What's your problem then? You're not even commenting on anything, let alone introduced yourself." She let out an exasperated sigh. "Well, look, I'm tired, and I had more important things to do than this, so just speak up if you don't want me here, ok?" She spat out angrily.

The boy looked over her shoulders and his eyes scanned the whole room. He stood up and walked away from Sakura.

"Hey, wait, where you think you're going?!" Sakura exclaimed.

He stopped when he saw some papers on the floor. He began to write something. When he was finished, he went back to Sakura. He held a paper up, covering half of his face.

Sakura read the words.

'I lose my voice.'

Sakura's mouth hang open, then she nodded. She perfectly understood him now.

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Author's Note: Yessir, another chapter finished! *Whew* Well I would try to update tomorrow. You see my mom was freaking out and she was telling me to try to study my bio subjects instead, so I could get higher grades, get another scholarship and blah blah blah… you know what's next… the talk about "the future" and so on. Well. I'm on the watch list. So yeah. Thanks for reading my first ever fanfic! XD Reviews are so much appreciated. :


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